Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Child Exploitation Violations

A Texas man has pleaded guilty today to child exploitation violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Brown of the Eastern District of Texas.

Alexander Nathan Barter, 23, of Joaquin, Texas, pleaded guilty to attempted coercion and enticement of a minor and distribution of child pornography before U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Giblin of the Eastern District of Texas.

According to information admitted by Barter as part of his plea, in October 2018, Barter posted an ad on a TOR site stating, “I’d like to try necrophilia and cannibalism, and see how it feels to take a life.  If you’d be willing to let me kill you, are in the US (preferably in the south) and can travel by car, contact me.”  An undercover officer saw the ad and responded, utilizing the persona of a father with a 13-year old daughter.  Between Oct. 9, 2018, and Oct.19, 2018, Barter and the undercover officer exchanged a series of messages that included Barter’s repeated interest in raping, killing and eating the 13-year old child.  Barter provided the undercover officer with instructions on traveling from Florida to Shelby County, Texas, what to tell the child to get her acquiescence to travel and how to conceal evidence of their crime.  On Oct. 19, 2018, Barter arrived at the designated meet site with a knife, trash bag, cellular phone and a tablet.

As part of his plea, Barter also admitted to using a social media communications application, the Internet and digital devices he owned to communicate with other individuals about child pornography.  On Oct. 14, 2017, Barter offered to send videos depicting the sexual exploitation of a prepubescent female to another individual.  The individual accepted the offer and Barter sent the files, along with descriptions of their contents.

Barter entered into a plea agreement with the government that includes a sentence of 240 months imprisonment on each count.  A sentencing date has not yet been set.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

This case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Lufkin, Beaumont, and Houston, Texas; HSI Cocoa Beach, Florida, Child Exploitation Task Force; Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Florida; Nacogdoches Police Department; Texas Department of Public Safety; U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air Units; and Shelby County Sheriff’s Office. Senior Trial Attorney Jennifer Toritto Leonardo of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa Miller of the Eastern District of Texas prosecuted the case.